The Qobuz Guide to Winter 2024

Classical

Rising-star violinist and Qobuzissime-awardee Chloe Chua shines on Butterfly Lovers & Paganini with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Opus chronicles Ryuichi Sakamoto’s final performance in September 2022, and includes a wealth of his eras, including his film scores and work with Yellow Magic Orchestra. The Konzerthausorchester Berlin, under the direction of Joana Mallwitz, presents Kurt Weill’s two symphonies. British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason performs Felix Mendelssohn’s works while also highlighting the compositions of her sister, Fanny. Klaus Mäkelä presents Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos. 4, 5, and 6 with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, continuing his exploration of Russian composers. British ensemble La Serenissima and its founder Adrian Chandler charmed us with Vivaldi², a selection of concertos for two instruments by Vivaldi.

Electronic

Holy Tongue and Shackleton may be a unique and perhaps unlikely paring but the outcome, The Tumbling Psychic Joy of Now, is more than fruitful—it’s an eerily joyful experience. Spare yet muscular, Phil Smith’s Tagebuch vacillates between downtempo dance and upbeat jazz funk. Indian Man celebrates beatmaking with a large portion of his ancestry in Gran’s House, a heartwarming tribute to his family’s matriarch. Synthesizing the Silk Roads: Uzbek Disco, Tajik Folktronica, Uyghur Rock & Crimean Tatar Jazz from 1980s Soviet Central Asia is an incredible compilation whose title tells you everything except how much unadulterated fun is contained within. On Normal Sounds, Lia Kohl’s creations meander around composition and ambience with an ease and grace that make you forget that these songs are everyday life-borne imitations.

Rock

X’s first studio record in a long, long time also serves as their swam song. Smoke & Fiction delivers on the band’s longstanding punk and Americana traditions in all the best ways. John Reis’ credentials are too many to name, but this Swami record—containing songs meant for his partnership with the late Rick Froburg—still adds to his rich surf punk legacy. Aussie indie rockers Quivers deliver shivers down the spine with straightforward songs peppered by a “lead singer by committee” approach. Why Bonnie meld pretty much any folk and rock adjacent sounds with witty lyrics and a sense of camaraderie with those who know how to soldier through a rough time. Jack White comes off like a kid in a candy store on No Name. He’s full of energy and absolutely giddy running through its bluesy, dirty riffs. With a nod to Wonka whimsy, vinyl copies of the album were originally secretly slipped into shopping bags of customers at his Third Man Records stores before its wider release. Nick Cave transforms grief into joy on his sweeping eighteenth album with the Bad Seeds. Wild God is a deeply effecting group of songs that will give you a reason to believe in the spirit of humanity. And we can thank the former mother-in-law of Velocity Girl’s drummer Jim Spellman for holding onto the master tapes of the band’s 1993 debut. Thirty-one years later, the Washington, D.C. indie rockers deliver the version of Copacetic they always envisioned, with a wall of fuzzy guitars swirling around opera-trained singer Sarah Shannon’s vocals.

Pop

After 20+ years, twee indie duo The Softies decided to again don the “bittersweet understanding of the human condition” crown on The Bed I Made and we are all the better for it. Cloudy synth and effervescent lyrics allow the second Kučka LP Can You Hear Me Dreaming to shine without the normal dance-pop cliches. Singer-songwriter Amy Rigby reflects on aging, particularly as part of the underserved and overlooked musical cohort of middle-aged women in music, on the insightful Hang In There With Me. Twenty-eight-year-old Remi Wolf eschews genre constrictions like a true Millennial on her super-fun sophomore release, Big Ideas. The California native bounces from dance to pop to R&B, her soulful set of pipes leading the way. Emily Wurramara shifts to soul-tinged pop on her second album, NARA, but you can still hear flashes of her debut’s indie-folk sound amid the textures.

Jazz

Taking on the impossible task of distilling James Baldwin’s artistry, Meshell Ndegeocello and incredible collaborators enrich his legacy while building something original and beyond mere tribute on No More Water. Containing but not limited to free jazz, rock, composition, ambient, bebop, far out vocal performances and more, Tigran Hamasyan’s The Bird of a Thousand Voices is his finest work as a bandleader. With their lineup being a who’s who of experimental jazz and electro, SML give you exactly what you’d expect on Small Mediaum Largue—an incredible and fulfilling experience. The pairing of Milton Nascimento and Esperanza Spalding is as delightful as you’d expect. The love and admiration the two friends have for one another is undeniable as they go through his songs, her songs, a Beatles cover, and more, in English and Portuguese. A Hi-Res reissue of Patrice Rushen’s early jazz work for Prestige Records, Precision, reveals a funky bebop side of an artist most known for her later, poppier hits. We never tire of Vince Guaraldi’s soundtrack work for the Peanuts gang. Remastered from newly rediscovered tapes and available for the first time ever, It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown—we feel ya, Chuck—contains all the musical cues from the 1969 animated special and more with Guaraldi on piano leading a large jazz combo.

Blues/Country/Folk

Paying homage to several styles despite the specific title, Jontavious Willis’ West Georgia Blues doubles as a stunning tribute and a fantastic blues record in its own right. No matter the moniker he records under, Johnny Blue Skies (aka Sturgill Simpson) can do no wrong when kicking out the country-folk-rock jams. Americana’s underground power couple Gillian Welch & David Rawlings have made yet another masterpiece that strengthens their stranglehold on the genre, flexing both their acumen and deep knowledge of their departing elders in the process. Wirlmarni is an album of Aboriginal Australian blues and gospel music by the Walmatjarri Elder, Kankawa Nagarra (Olive Knight), who conveys an arresting sense of compassion whether she’s singing solo, in a duet, with chirping birds in the background, or just accompanied by percussive thumping against her acoustic guitar. Los Angeles cosmic country rockers Beachwood Sparks return after a dozen-year break with Across the River of Stars, produced by Chris Robinson. Not to worry, their eight-miles-high harmonies and jangly guitars are back, too.

More Favorites

A brutal, unrelenting and caustic melding of speed metal styles marks the incredible, third, self-titled Concrete Winds record, one of the finest of the genre this year. Denzel Curry dips his toes into modern pop rap and 2000s mixtape-era dirty south on KING OF THE MISCHIEVOUS SOUTH VOL. 2 with an assist from a killer guest list. A visit to Yui Onodera’s hometown of Iwata, Japan—a decade after earthquakes ravaged it—inspired 1982, a set of lush, ambient soundscapes promoting both sadness and hope for the city’s future. It is always a treat to get a new Meridian Brothers album, and Mi Latinoamérica Sufre is an eclectic mix of Latin, South American and African styles that demonstrates progression while surpassing fans’ rabid expectations. Thee Heart Tones’ sultry, lovelorn songs on Forever & Ever leave hearts in tatters like only impeccably-recorded retro soul can. Amelia Earhart’s final journey is the source material for Laurie Anderson’s latest release. With the help of ANOHNI, Marc Ribot and others, Anderson masterfully constructs a musical and spoken word simulation that transports you into the cockpit. VR headset not required.

Written by Sujan Hong, Jeff Laughlin, Nitha Viraporn/Qobuz USA